Home
by rurousha
Summary: A look at how the war with the Hidden Village of Sound could have ended.


I've only seen _Naruto_ up till when Naruto leaves with Jiraiya to train for getting Sasuke back, and this is just something that came to mind. It's just one way I could see it all turning out.

Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own _Naruto_.

* * *

**Home**

Sasuke sits, slouched heavily against a wall in what's left of the Hidden Village of Sound's underground fortress. He's in a dark hallway with a now-grown youth as his only company in the lonely halls. "Let's stop," he groans. "I'm tired of running."

"…I'm tired of chasing you." The exhausted young man pants heavily while sitting against the stone wall beside his best friend. "You know, on that day, I promised Sakura that I'd bring you back. But I failed that day. I let her down. I guess I just have to make it up to her now."

"Great," the Uchiha grumbles, "I get to put up with that fan club all over again."

"Nah," Naruto sighs. "They gave up on you a long time ago. But Sakura's not like them anymore; you know that. She really cares about you." He rolls his head over to look Sasuke in the eyes. "Let's go home, Sasuke. We have a family there."

Sasuke breaks eye contact and looks forward once again. Slowly, he nods.

Then he feels something catch in his chest, and he starts coughing up crimson puddles onto his hands, shirt, pants, and shoes. Naruto, in spite of his own injuries, jumps up and cradles Sasuke's head up to look at him properly.

"Hey, hey, you okay? You're not allowed to die on me _now_." There's a touch of sarcasm in Naruto's voice that Sasuke doesn't fail to catch.

The ebony-haired man nods with dry humor. "You _hit _me. What'd you expect?"

Naruto grins slightly, guiltily. "Oh yeah."

And with that, he stands, pulling the wounded ninja onto his back, draping his arms -- minding the broken one -- over his shoulders and clasping his own hands behind him to support his best friend.

"Don't worry. I'll get you home."

* * *

Jiraiya stands over the white body of Orochimaru, scowling down at what was once his own best friend. The exiled sennin, having been left facing the wall, rolls his head up to look at the toad nin. 

"Aren't you dead yet?" the white-haired man asks.

"Not yet. Won't be long now, though; you taught that kid well." He speaks like someone who has finally accepted his fate.

Jiraiya shakes his head and sits down by Orochimaru's feet. "Not really. When someone's that driven, there's only so much to teach them. He did most of it himself."

"I see."

There's an awkward pause for a while before Jiraiya speaks again, staring forward. "Do you remember that day when you left us at Konoha? I was convinced that you'd made your own decision and that chasing after you wouldn't do anything. You'd tainted your own heart beyond any salvation I could bring you. That's what I tried to get Naruto to accept -- that his friend Sasuke didn't exist anymore, that chasing him was pointless, and that only an idiot would bother.

"Do you know what he said to me?" Orochimaru remains impassively silent, but Jiraiya continues regardless. "That if it came between saving his friend and leaving him to die in darkness, he'd rather be an idiot."

"Point, Jiraiya," Orochimaru orders, though he still can't even see the ero-sennin from his view on the floor. Instead, all he hears is Jiraiya stand back up over him.

"You're gonna die here, you know." He states this stoically, and he isn't surprised to get no response from the snake sennin.

Orochimaru, on the other hand, is quite surprised when he feels two muscled arms slide underneath him and pick him up. "What are you--?"

"I'd rather be an idiot." Jiraiya looks down at Orochimaru and speaks sternly to his eyes. "So be quiet. I'm taking you home."

* * *

The two ninjas meet at the entrance of the Hidden Village of Sound's headquarters, both carrying their respective burdens. 

"Hey kid," Jiraiya says easily as Naruto approaches him.

The blond opens his mouth to respond… then catches sight of the unconscious _thing_ his teacher is carrying. He nearly yells out in disgust as to why Jiraiya hasn't finished the monster off… until he feels the heavy breathing of another unconscious person on his ear from where Sasuke is asleep on his shoulder.

Naruto merely nods in understanding and begins his trek up the stone entrance stairs.

"You both look pretty beat. You want me to carry him?"

Naruto shakes his head as Jiraiya follows right behind him. "No," the blond breathes out, his voice shaking a little with the exertion of speaking any more, "I'd rather take him myself, if it's okay. Besides, _he_," he nods back towards Orochimaru, "is in worse shape than any of us. You should go on ahead. We'll be fine."

Even though his young pupil can't see the gesture, Jiraiya nods. Then he takes off in a sprint, passing Naruto in a _whoosh_ of air, leaving him alone with his burden.

Naruto continues on more slowly, one step at a time, up the stairs. Neither his nor Sasuke's wounds are critical, but aggravating them could make them so, therefore running wouldn't be the best idea. Besides, he doesn't have the strength or the desire to speed up. Some things, he's learned over the years, take time.

* * *

Not far from the Village of Sound, an undying loyal stumbles through the woods, faithfully trying to reach his master even though he can sense that it's too late to do any good. Even if his master still was at the village, Kabuto's own powers are too depleted to be of any help. 

He's failed in every aspect of his usefulness to Orochimaru.

Kabuto leans against a tree trunk to catch his breath and hold the bloody wound under his ribs. The gash across his torso wasn't completely healed with his own regenerative capabilities. Had the medic pushed any more chakra into healing himself, he would've been liable to kill himself. He's instead opted to leave the wound half healed and himself half dead.

He senses the approach of the one that injured him but doesn't see much of a point in trying to get away. Naruto may very well kill him, but it's dishonorable for a servant to live while his master doesn't anyway. Alive or dead, Kabuto's shamed both Konoha and Orochimaru. Nothing can be done either way, so he's willing to accept whatever the fox ninja decides on.

Naruto treads heavily into the break of trees, hoping that the minimal amount of real sunlight will give him a little strength. So focused (or exhausted, either will be acceptable) on staying on both feet is he that he doesn't even notice the sound nin in front of him until he feels someone's eyes on him.

He looks over to where Kabuto is half-sitting/half-standing against a tree. He sighs with frustration. Hasn't he beaten people up enough for one day? "You're a complete mess, and you don't have the strength to attack me, so do us both a favor and don't bother."

Kabuto smirks dryly. "You're not exactly in prime shape yourself, Naruto, but I wasn't going to attack you."

Naruto shifts his weight uncomfortably to one side. He wasn't expecting (though he was hoping for) Kabuto's response, so the medic's seeming disinterest kind of unnerves him. "So, what're you gonna do now?"

"I'm not sure yet," Kabuto replies while starring up at the patch of blue sky that can be seen through the foliage. "Wander, I guess. There's not really much I can do."

"Yeah, well, you better start wandering pretty fast, 'cause I'm gonna sick ANBU after you once I take care of Sasuke and, you know, stuff that actually matters." Kabuto smiles a bit at Naruto's lame finish but nods anyway. He stands upright and begins his uneven walk in the opposite direction that Naruto is headed.

"Thank you," Kabuto says as he passes the blond, "for the head start."

Naruto resumes his own walk towards Konoha with Sasuke still draped over his back. "Don't mention it," he calls. Then, more loudly, "_ever_."

* * *

"J- Jiraiya-sama!" one of the guards exclaims as said ninja jumps on top of the Konoha entrance gate and over the other side without a word of explanation. The former looks over to his guard partner, and the both of them shrug. Whatever he's running around for, it must be important for him to actually hurry like that. But what was that that he was carrying? 

Safely within Konoha's gates, Jiraiya rushes along the rooftops to avoid the impediment of pedestrians. He has to get to Tsunade's hospital immediately. Orochimaru's got almost no time left.

There it is! Jiraiya's eyes light up.

* * *

Inside her office, Tsunade looks up, startled, from the mission review she'd been reading. Jiraiya's back, and he's in a hurry. But why doesn't she sense Naruto with him? What happened? 

Suddenly, Shizune storms into the room. "Tsunade-sama!"

"I know!" The Hokage stands in a wave of apprehension, knocking her chair over. The two medics run down the hall, headed for the main hospital where they can sense Jiraiya is headed.

* * *

Tsunade gets there first. She finds Sakura and a team of medic nins standing just within the hospital entrance, waiting for orders. Unfortunately, she can't start giving them instruction until Jiraiya shows up. 

He doesn't keep them waiting long. Tsunade waves as her old friend comes into view, leaping from rooftop to rooftop with his white hair streaking behind him. He's carrying someone, too. And she can tell from where she's standing that whoever it is is more dead than not. _Oh, please don't let it be Naruto, _she prays silently.

It's not Naruto.

At the sight of one of the most feared enemies of Konoha being held in the ero-sennin's arms, half of the medics back up in disgust.

"Jiraiya!" Tsunade practically shrieks. "How could you bring him _here_! He could--."

"Tsunade, please," Jiraiya begs with uncharacteristic emotion. "He's gonna die! We have to--."

"NO!" Her eyes flash dangerously, and those that hadn't cleared the area upon Orochimaru's arrival do now. "What's wrong with you! He--."

"_Sakuraaa_!" A shout from the same direction that Jiraiya just came from pulls everyone's attention away from the arguing sennins.

Naruto is bounding towards the hospital atop the village's roofs, just as Jiraiya had not moments earlier, with Sasuke now lying lifelessly in his arms. Sakura's eyes widen at the sight.

The blond lands hard on the entrance steps in a crouch, protectively cradling Sasuke to his chest. Almost immediately, a pool of blood begins to form at his feet.

"His wounds," Naruto gasps out, the run having taken what was left of his stamina, "tore open when I was moving him. I can't get him to stop bleeding!"

He looks up plaintively to the pink-haired medic in front of him.

Her reaction is instant.

"Get him on the gurney," she calls to the white-clad hospital workers behind her. "We need him in room three immediately!"

They nod, and three push one of the gurneys waiting just within the doorways forward to where Naruto is holding the dying Uchiha. He carefully sets him down, and they roll Sasuke into the hospital, Sakura on one side, Naruto at his other.

Tsunade watches all this happen, and her heart suddenly feels as if it has stopped beating. She doesn't even tear her eyes away from the three youth when they disappear into the darkness of the hallway.

"Tsunade!"

She snaps back to Jiraiya… and Orochimaru.

"Bring him in here!" she orders. Jiraiya smiles and races up the entrance steps to where the Hokage is holding the door open.

* * *

Who went and filled his brain with cotton? And is cotton supposed to be black like that? Usually, cotton is seen as white, not this hazy, dark _thing_ that's flooding his thoughts and vision. 

This is about all that Orochimaru registers as he's carried into the hospital. He doesn't know who long he's there afterward. Seconds, moments, hours, he doesn't know. He _does_ hear Tsunade barking out orders around him, though, but he can't understand them since the black cotton seems to have spread to his ears as well. He briefly wonders what she's yelling about.

When they were young, Tsunade yelled at just about everything, but most often at Jiraiya's perverted antics. Orochimaru had always smirked inwardly when that happened; he found it amusing when the moron got caught…

Wait, she's not yelling because she's angry. She's…

Maybe the cotton's not as thick as he originally thought is was. Actually, Orochimaru thinks he can see pretty well now. There's Jiraiya standing on his left, and Tsunade on his right. And she's _not_ angry, she's…

Scared? Why is she scared? And why is Jiraiya crying? And _why_ is he laying down with them standing over him?

"Jiraiya?" the snake sennin croaks out past his dry and swollen tongue. "What happened? What's wrong?"

The white-haired ninja smiles sadly and shakes his head. "Doesn' matter. 'Cause you're here now, and wha' happens after this don' matter, 'cause," he stops his rambling when he chokes on his own words. He shakes his head again, thinking through what he's going to say. "You're home, and that's all that counts."

Orochimaru slowly rolls his head over to look at the woman on his right. She nods, a sad, piteous smile, identical to Jiraiya's, pulling at her lips.

"I'm home?" Orochimaru feels Tsunade squeeze his hand in the affirmative, forcing something wet and slick through his fingertips. That's odd; he hadn't even realized she had his hand in the first place. Actually, he can now feel that Jiraiya's similarly clutching his other hand.

Needing to digest this information, Orochimaru's eyes slide past Tsunade, and he stares further to his right, a few beds down. Three kids are there, one lying in the bed, the other two standing worriedly on either side of him, one grasping each of the lying boy's hands. He wonders what they have to be worried about. Maybe the boy in the bed is hurt…

He smiles. It's not a smirk, and yet, it doesn't feel odd on his face. So he just smiles softly and looks back up at his two friends.

"Yes," he says, "I'm home."

* * *

His friend's eyes close, and he feels his cold hand go limp. Orochimaru… 

He doesn't start crying again. He'd been crying the whole time Tsunade had been trying to save him, shouting orders to assistant medics, including Shizune. The Hokage had finally given up after nearly twenty minutes of exhausting her healing chakra and realized that she wasn't making any progress. She'd ordered everyone out but him.

He doesn't cry… But Tsunade does.

As soon as he hears her sobs break out, he moves around the foot of the bed to the other side, where he takes his grieving friend into his arms. He lets her wrap her arms around his neck, not caring that she gets his best friend's blood on his clothes and skin.

He just holds her and lets her cry.

Over her thin shoulder, Jiraiya sees three youth, one boy lying in a bed, the other two grasping his hands in happy relief.

* * *

"Hey," Sakura breathes out, the tense worry finally beginning to leave her features. "How do you feel?" 

"Like a thousand Narutos stampeded on top of me," Sasuke replies hoarsely. Then he realizes that his throat is burning. He swallows in an attempt to cool it.

He also realizes that Sakura is holding his right hand with both her hands, and that idiot, Naruto, is similarly holding his left. He decides to ignore both counts and chalk his leniency up to the fact that he's still not completely conscious… just in case anyone sees.

Naruto smiles guiltily but doesn't remove his hands. "See, Sakura. I told you I'd get him home."

Sakura looks up to her blond friend, smiles happily, and nods.

"Actually," Sasuke says, "my throat's killing me."

Sakura smiles down at him again and retrieves a glass of water from the nightstand beside her. She'd figured he'd be needing it once he woke up. Sasuke gratefully takes the glass and pulls himself up into a sitting position. Knowing that if he just downs the glass in such a state of exhaustion, it'll give him a stomachache, he contentedly sips the water while Naruto animatedly tells how he beat the crud out of Kabuto.

He's tired, and he's not in a hurry to get out of bed yet. He's got time.

He's home, after all.

* * *

End

* * *

I'm not sure how much I like it. I mean, I really like the ideas that were in my head when I wrote this story, but I'm not sure how well I got everything down. I wrote it pretty fast, after all. I don't know. The flow feels too fast-paced when parts of it, especially when Orochimaru is waking up, are supposed to be much slower. Any tips? I'm looking to revise this, after all.

Anyway, I really posted this so that I could test how ffn is responding to my stories that I'm attempting to submit. If this works, then I'll know how to submit the rest of my story, _One Moment_.


End file.
